Beware the Nurse Imposters

Today someone asked me if I was planning a home birth since I was a nurse. This was pretty confusing at first since most nurses are actually supporters of modern medicine (hence the career choice) and while there probably are some I haven't met any who would even consider a birth at home. Forget soft music and self-hypnosis, my birth plan centers around getting an epidural ASAP. Finally I figured out that this woman was making an all too common mistake- confusing actual nurses with people who aren't nurses at all. It's bad enough that people call medical assistants and nurses aides nurses. They may not be actual nurses but at least are valuable members of the healthcare team. But confusing lay midwives with certified nurse midwives and nurses is a huge slap in the face because if anything, lay midwives actually impede healthcare.

Certified nurse midwives (CNMs) are nurses who have worked in labor and delivery and gone on to get a specialized training in delivering babies. They provide prenatal care and deliver in hospitals and birthing centers where they have emergency equipment and physicians as back up. Even though my practitioner is an MD, a CNM is definitely just as safe and some studies show as having even better outcomes.

Lay midwives on the other hand have no medical training and are therefore not allowed to practice in hospitals or birthing centers, so deliver babies at home. Despite this many still call themselves a nurse or a midwife, I guess to sound more reassuring. While birth complications thankfully aren't the norm, they are also common enough that chances are you know someone who has had one. The great thing about modern medicine is that even with all the complications that can occur mother-baby mortality rates are almost nil. The bad thing about home births is that you take all the progress we've made to save lives and throw it away. Sorry if any of you have had home births or plan to. I just don't think it's a good idea and wish people would stop associating it's main supporters with my profession.